by Rudolph, J.
The last room on the right was clearly a guest room. Twin beds were pushed on opposite walls and were covered in matching quilts. In between the beds was an antique oak dresser with an oak framed mirror above it. A well worn Teddy bear sat on one side of the dresser top, an antique porcelain doll on the other, and a metal toy pick up truck with flaked green paint and rust sat in the middle. Just inside the closet was a toy chest with the toys of multiple generations inside. Wood toys older than me sat next to battery operated ones. On the shelves, many more folded blankets and quilts sat alongside guest towels, just waiting for someone to come to visit. Everything had a coat of dust over it from being unused.
I went to the room across the hall which was the master bedroom. Flannel sheets covered the full sized bed, the comforter was fan folded at the foot, waiting for the cold nights to come. A woman's dresser sat against the wall. Artifacts from her were laid out on the top; a string of pearls, a Virginia Woolf book with the spot she had left off on carefully bookmarked, a hand mirror, and a tube of lipstick sat as reminders that she had been there, that she existed. The man's chest of drawers had a pile of loose change on its surface, next to a pipe stand and a tin that still smelled of pipe tobacco. The walls were decorated with a faded floral wallpaper and more family photos were displayed, carefully hung in a planned mosaic. The people were forever caught in smiles in the museum of the owners home.
I loved the last room I came across, directly across from the sewing room. It was simply decorated, two recliners that shared an end table were the only pieces of furniture. The walls were made of recessed bookshelves, filled to the point of nearly overflowing. I scanned the shelves and saw that there was a great number of mixed age group reading materials. On the bottom shelves books like Curious George and Dr. Seuss collections were ready to be pulled out by little hands. The next higher shelf had more difficult reading for the older kids, like Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. The more grown up books included authors like Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck, and James Patterson. There were books on how to farm, how to raise chickens, and an assortment of other how-to books. It was very cool.
It finally hit me that I was tired. I just wanted sleep more than anything. No one felt comfortable sleeping in the bedrooms so we all piled into groups in the living room. I changed the dressing on DaWayne's shoulder and asked him if he took his antibiotics and pain meds. He had taken the antibiotic but didn't want the pain med. He didn't like how it made his brain fuzzy, but he promised to take it if it got too painful.
We assigned watch for the night with a series of drawing straws. Trent and I got lucky and had the night off. I know I needed it. I joined Trent and Drew on the floor and fell asleep quickly in the light of the dying fire.
The next morning came but it was still dark from the clouds that hung in the sky. The snow had stopped for the moment but I wasn't sure how long it would last. Trent stirred as I sat up, and he gave me my favorite good morning smile.
"Hey sweetie," Trent whispered, "how did you sleep?"
"Pretty good. Was nice sleeping inside real walls." I replied, also in a whisper. "Figured I might as well get up and see if they left behind anything that sounds like breakfast and then poke around and see if we can find anything useful."
Lucas, who was on last watch, stopped sharpening his sword and offered to come along. "I still really want to go check out that barn. My spidey sense is tingling on that place." I knew what he meant because I was feeling the same way. The Spider-man reference brought a smile to my face.
"Let's go after we eat." I suggested.
We found stale cereal in the cupboard and decided to just deal with it. While we ate I had to ask about the sword that Lucas carried.
"When I was younger," he began, "I used to act in dinner theater. I had a sword as part of my costume. When the zombies started coming I didn't have anything to use as a weapon. We didn't have guns or anything in the house, so this was the closest thing I had to a weapon. I started carrying it since it was better than nothing. One day I was poking around a store that sells cheap tools and found a sharpening stone. I figured I didn't have much to lose so I took it home and sharpened the sword with it. Took me a bit, but I finally got it sharp enough that it takes hair off my arm. I have to keep sharpening it because the metal doesn't hold an edge well, but it has saved my life more than once." We finished the rest of our breakfast and layered up to cross the yard.
I didn't know snow could come down so much in one night. It came up to the patio edge. I was so grateful all over again that we weren't on the road for this. I looked at Trent in disbelief that it was this deep. He shrugged his shoulders.
I sighed. "Well, let's get going."
The Barn
We made our way over to the barn at a snail's pace. Snow is hard to walk in. When we got to the door we realized that we had to clear space in the snow so the door could swing open. As the air stirred with the opening of the door, a foul smell collided with my nose. I prepared myself for a zombie attack but that was not the case here.
Hanging from the rafters of the barn was a body. The light filtered in from the east, cracks in the wood let it in, and it streamed through and fell on the still dangling man. I shook my head sadly. Trent walked into the barn with his gun drawn, and crossed the open space to where there were closed doors on the opposite side. When he tried to open it, he was met with the resistance of the snow. He kept pushing it until he created enough of a space that more light flooded in. The barn was silent. Confident that there were no surprise zombies hiding, I turned my attention to the hanged man.
There was very little left of him. He was mostly nothing but bones with scattered patches of thick, leathery skin. I could only identify that he was a man based on his clothes. He wore denim overalls and a plaid flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up a bit. A baseball cap with a tractor patch stitched on it sat crookedly on his head. Gray hair tufted out from being trapped under the cap. On the barn floor there were a pair of glasses with wire rims.
There was a piece of paper peeking out from a pocket of his bib overalls. I knew it was likely a suicide note. Part of me really didn't want to know his story about what made him decide that this was a good idea, but another part of me wanted to know what was so bad that he couldn't live through it. Maybe it would say what the breaking point was. A ladder stood close by, probably the ladder he used to set up this project.
"Do we cut him down?" Lucas asked, breaking the silence. Dust motes in the light stream danced around the man as we looked at the body.
"Yeah. I think we should." Trent responded. He slid the ladder closer to the man and climbed up. When he got close to the top he unsheathed his large hunting knife. The blade caught the light for a second and it reflected off brightly. He reached over to the rope and began to cut.
"Wait!" Lucas called out. "I don't want him to fall." He stood close to the man and reached up to where his waist was. When he was sure he had a good hold he called up to Trent to go ahead. I looked at Lucas and started thinking about how interesting it was that he cared about a body hitting the ground. The body was mostly bones and connective tissues. I would be surprised if he made it to the ground in one piece, and I think Lucas expected it as well, but he wanted to at least try.
Trent finally got all the way through the rope and the body was in Lucas' hands. Lucas gently laid the body on the ground, intact after all. "He was lighter than I thought he would be." Lucas whispered.
"He has a note in his pocket." I pointed out in a lowered voice, almost church quiet. Trent squatted down next to the man and gently removed it. He unfolded the paper and began to read it.
"I'm sorry for what I'm doing. I know suicide is not the way. I hope God can forgive me for what I'm doing. I can't do this anymore. I miss my wife and I can't live with the dreams I have about when she turned. I can't keep waking up with the memory of putting her down. Oh, Becca. Please forgive me from heaven. Tom"
I felt he
avy after the letter was done. Lucas had tears filling his eyes. Trent was silent and looked like he was deep in thought. He put the letter down next to the body.
"That's my worst fear, ya know? That I'd have to put down Lacey or Raine. I'm not a fan of suicide but I don't blame this guy at all for this. If there is a God looking down on us, I really hope he takes these cases into account." Lucas said quietly.
I remembered having a similar talk with Tyreese about this. I think a lot of people were thinking about the emergency escape plan from this life. If I were to actually admit it, I did too. I thought about if Tom's situation were my own how would I respond? Right now, making the choice to keep going made all this a thing that I could live with, but if I were to lose my family would I be able to make the same choice?
"What are we going to do with his body?" I asked, mostly as a way to get out of my head.
"Ground is frozen. We can't bury him." Trent replied, grabbing on the distraction as well.
Lucas cleared his throat and quickly wiped his face before he stood up. He poked around the barn a bit until he came across the tool storage closet. It was surprisingly deep, made to fit a ride on mower and a couple other large items. He peered inside and called out, "Hey I think this might work." Trent and I walked over to where he stood. "If we clear these tools out we could put him in here. We could put a sign up on the door." Lucas added. I nodded in agreement. It was as close as we could come to a respectful burial at this point. We got busy clearing out the closet.
When we had finished emptying the closet Trent and Lucas gently lifted Tom's body and placed it inside. I picked up the note, walked over to the work bench, found a jar with nails in it and pulled a hammer off the peg board on the wall. I grabbed a nail out of the jar and went to the closed door of Tom's burial closet. I put the note up on the door so if another group comes, they'd know who Tom was. We stood together in front of the door in silence for a moment then left the barn and went back into the house. I had a new feeling of respect for where we were squatting.
Storms Settling In
The snow began to fall again. We weren't going to be able to leave any time soon. I felt a bit trapped by this change, but knowing that the home owners were not coming back fixed some of the mixed feelings I had about taking over the bedrooms. I talked Tanya into taking DaWayne into the guest bedroom and setting him up there. Tanya insisted that Mercedes take the other bed, and after a moment of protest, she finally accepted it.
Mercedes was an awesome woman. In the old days she would sit on her rocking chair on her balcony, when the weather wasn't so hot that you melted into a puddle of sweat, and watch over the common grounds. She had a kind word for everyone. If you needed something that was within her physical limits, like a batch of cupcakes for a school party, she would whip it up in a heart beat and go beyond. I know this because I remember that one year I was supposed to make cupcakes for the harvest festival the first grade class was having. I had picked up one of those box mixes and had intended to make them the night before the party. I got called back to work because of a staffing issue, and Trent wasn't home yet. I needed to have someone watch Drew. Mrs. Mendez, our downstairs neighbor, wasn't home so I knocked on Mercedes door to see if she would be willing to keep an eye on him. She happily agreed. Drew asked me about the cupcakes and I told him to talk to his dad, maybe he would have enough time, and reminded him that in the worst case scenario I would buy some pre-made ones from the grocery store on the way to school. Mercedes volunteered to make them so I ran back to my apartment to get the mix and eggs. She took them and said she'd have Drew be her special helper.
The next morning when I got home there was a pile of cupcakes on the table so I snagged one. It was not cake mix cupcakes. These were absolutely amazing. When Drew came out of the bathroom I asked him about the cupcakes. He told me all about the adventure they had making them from scratch. I remember the delight on his face when he told me he didn't know that you could make cupcakes like that, he thought they only came from the mix box.
I remember knocking on Mercedes door after I took Drew to school to pay her for watching Drew the night before. I pulled $40 from my scrubs pocket. When I went to hand it to her she had an offended look on her face. "I didn't help for money. You keep that. He's a good kid and he made an old lady feel useful. That was worth more than money." I nodded in understanding and thanked her again. As I turned to leave she said, "Please bring him around more often. I promised to teach him how to make cookies and, by his request, how to make birthday cake, since he told me birthday cake is the best kind of cake." I smiled a big smile and agreed instantly. She seemed to have a glow about her knowing that she was going to be able to cook and have a kid around again. I realized how alone Mercedes must feel. She had mobility issues and in a second floor apartment, she had to feel trapped. With no family, she spent most of her days alone. I vowed to make sure I spent more time with her and to send Drew to visit as well.
With Mercedes and DaWayne settled in we all had to decide what to do with everyone else. Trisha came up with the idea of the boys room and a girls room for the kids. We set all the girls up in the sewing room, including Trisha, who didn't want the little ones to feel alone and the boys in the reading room. We helped them set up all their bedding in rows. I suggested that Matt and Lucas set up their families in the master room, since there were so many in their group. We realized in the living room that the sofa was a hide away bed. Tyreese, Tanya, Trent, and I insisted that Jody and Erin take the pull out. They would create a natural roll guard for JJ. I quite liked the spot we were in, near the right side of the fireplace. Tyreese moved their bedding closer to the fireplace as well, off to the left side.
After everyone was settled, we called a meeting. Trent started it off. "Good morning, everyone. I figured it was time to figure out what we are doing here. It's snowing a lot. The roads are covered. Until I can come up with a snow plow plan we're stuck here. There are worse places to be. We have running water and tons of wood. In a while, I plan on locating the propane tank. I also want to set up a scout team to find out if there are other people here or if there are zombies. We can do a house to house search, but the scout team will fine tune the details. Now if there are no questions I'm going to turn this meeting to Cali." The faces turned to me expectantly.
"Okay, my turn huh?" I began. "As I'm sure you all know, we have running water!" A round of applause erupted and I grinned. "I'm totally thrilled about this, too. It has been a while. We'll be able to wash up and flush the toilet again. The perks are great but to be the downer in the group, I have to say that I'm concerned that the water will lull everyone into believing its safe. To me all water is tainted unless proven otherwise. We still need to boil it before we plan on drinking it. We can set it in a snow bank to cool it down afterward to drink. It would suck to have learned the hard way that we should have done this in the first place.
"I don't want anyone to get sick right now. We have limited resources med wise. Keep warm and with every dinner I will put out a multivitamin and I really want everyone to take it. It's easier to prevent than to fix.
"Now there is one last thing we need to talk about. We know that at some point there were zombies in Scipio. The previous owner of the house had a wife that was infected. He put her down so don't worry about her, but we can't be fooled into thinking everything is great because the town is tiny. Be safe, okay? Any questions?"
Tyreese raised the first question. "Do we know what happened to the guy?"
I drew a deep breath before answering. "We do. He committed suicide in the barn. He left a note about how he came to that solution."
The room sat silent for a moment. None of us knew the guy, but we all felt for him and the pain he was in.
Scipio's Scouts
Trent, Tyreese, Matt, and I were the members of the scout team. Trent had tried to argue me off the team but failed. My first argument on going was what if we find a person alive that needed medical attention. That didn't work. Tren
t retorted that he knew enough stuff to get the person back to me. The most compelling argument I made was the girl factor. "Trent," I started, "try to imagine being a woman with two small children. Zombies have just ripped through killing everyone you know. Now three strange men are pounding on your door asking if there is anyone inside. She's scared for her safety and for her children. She doesn't know if you're bad guys. A girl, like me, who is clearly there on her own free will, knocking on her door with the strange guys would help dial her anxiety down and maybe no one gets shot." Trent and Tyreese looked at each other and gave a look of defeat. Both turned to Matt, who started laughing.
"Don't fight this. We already lost." Matt said, between chuckles.
Being from California, we were absolutely unprepared for snow weather. It came down to being left with no choice but to raid the owner's closets before we went out to brave the elements. I felt like I was grave robbing as we shuffled through to find something that would fit. Once we were sufficiently bundled up, we went outside. Even with the coats and scarves the cold bit into us. I stumbled in the drifts. We decided that going right would be a good start. The snow started to fall again. The impending storm brought in deep thick clouds, and the light from the sun seemed to be turned off. The first house we came on was built with a similar floor plan as the house we were staying in, single story with a living room and kitchen on one end and judging by the way the windows were laid out a couple bedrooms on the other side. We peered through windows that had gaps in the curtains and saw no movement. We knocked on the doors and no one answered. Tyreese tested the knob and found the door unlocked. We crept inside and through the living room to the kitchen. It was a fine balance to make enough noise that if there were people inside that they knew we were people too but in the event of zombies to be quiet enough to not bring a horde on us. Tyreese went through the hall with his gun drawn to make sure we were really alone here. While he was gone I shone a light around the living room, mostly being nosy about the people that lived here. There were several family photographs hanging on the wall, a picture of Jesus, and the Salt Lake Mormon temple. When Tyreese came back and gave us the all clear, we slid our back packs off our shoulders and put them on the counter. We opened all the cupboards and grabbed as much food as we could find. I crept into the bathroom to see if they left behind any medicine. There was a half full bottle of headache medicine, children's aspirin, and a half-finished antibiotic prescription. I had the grim thought that at least antibiotic resistance was not a large deal anymore. I bagged up the finds and went into the next room. I was looking for blankets to make more floor padding out of since it was a lot harder on that floor than I had anticipated. I didn't find the blankets that I was after, but that was fine by me. In the smaller bedroom closet were many buckets of emergency preparedness goods. They were gaining in popularity over the years with disasters like hurricane Katrina and various earthquakes. I remembered that I saw a picture of a Mormon temple hanging in the hall. Between being in Utah and the temple picture it was safe to say this was part of their year supply that the Mormon Church encouraged. Score for us. There was likely water somewhere too. The guys were in the other room so I called for them to see our spoils. They whooped with joy and got the hand truck from the garage that they had discovered. We quickly discarded the hand truck idea when we realized that we had to trek it back through the deepest snow I'd ever been in. Wheels and snow would not work well. Matt went back in the garage and produced 3 garbage pail lids. Trent had seen twine in the garage so he went in for it. When he brought it back I ran the twine through the holes in the handles of the trash can lid to be able to tow them. We piled the lids up with several of the buckets and then ran the twine through the bucket handles to tie them together. Within moments we were on our way with our first load.